The Dragon's Crown
by Hymntanra
Summary: Upon returning to the spotlight of Maple, Phantom becomes aware of some rather discomforting news: Freud has an heir. And the thief isn't quite sure if he likes that.


The Dragon's Crown

Upon his return to the spotlight in Maple, Phantom had steered entirely clear of the other heroes. He knew they were about, of course, but saw no need to get so intimately involved with them again. Steering clear of Aran and Mercedes was in his mind the best course of action in the current time. But Phantom was a bit hampered by stinging curiosity. And it immediately bit at him when he heard the heroes appearing on some strange event being broadcast across all the radio channels. Some sort of coronation, given by the Empress, to recognize the returning heroes.

All three of them.

Well, so to speak, it was only two. Mercedes and Aran had survived by their own means. But Freud was long dead, and Phantom knew that for a fact—no matter what, he had to have been at least slain by the test of time. But over and over through the broadcast Phantom listened to, the word 'dragon master' and 'dragon pact' were repeated over and over again and discussed with a person with a slightly higher pitched voice. Likely a child. The thief caught this person's name once or twice, 'Evan' they called him. He didn't particularly care about the child's name. He just wanted to know who the child thought he was, sitting there answering questions about such an important form of magic. Though, he answered the questions thoroughly and quite accurately…even mentioning Freud himself once. Phantom furrowed his brow. What WAS this nonsense?

He was too curious. He had to look into this further, he had to learn about this high voiced child who thought himself able at taking over such a powerful form of magic. Phantom knew the perfect person to consult on this—a person who had been around for plenty of years, and a person who had lived in this child's hometown for many years. Athena Pierce…he had known her briefly back five hundred years ago but never particularly spoke with her too much. She was more of a concern to the elf queen that she served.

"P-Phantom!" The blonde elf cried, clearly startled by his visitor. "What in the world are you doing here…?! Can I get you some tea? I saw you at the Empress's conflict with Hilla…"

"I'm not here for tea and pleasantries, Athena." Phantom said calmly, sitting down in the chair adjacent to her desk. Athena slowly lowered herself back into her own chair, hands gripping the wooden surface of the armrests. "I have some questions I need answered as soon as possible. I'm hoping that you can answer them for me. You CAN answer them for me, can't you?"

"Oh, of course!" Athena said, but her voice wavered. "What…what exactly do you want to know about, Phantom?"

"I was listening to the radio yesterday—"

"Oh, did you hear the Empress's acknowledgement of the three heroes? It was a very exciting ceremony. She made all of them unofficial knights." Athena exclaimed. "It's too bad you weren't there in person. All of them had so many interesting things to say, though Lilin pretty much spoke for Aran…his memory is gone right now, unfortunately…"

"Athena."

"Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry. Go on."

"When I was listening to the broadcast, I heard something very interesting." Phantom continued. "I heard some of the interviews that the heroes gave, and I noticed that some shrill voiced CHILD was speaking about dragon masters and dragon pacts. Now, Freud's dead. I know this. So tell me. Who the hell is EVAN?"

"…Oh." Athena quieted down. "Well. That's, uh, not the question I expected you to be asking. Well…Evan is a native of this town here—Henesys, that is. He used to be a worker on his father's pig farm but he found a dragon egg. An Onyx Dragon egg. One of the dragons that can make Freud's pact. Apparently, the egg made the pact with him automatically—he had it even before it hatched. So Evan is basically Freud's successor—the only other individual in this world to successfully create a pact with an Onyx Dragon."

Phantom was silent, contemplating what he had been told. It was true that Freud had been the only other Dragon Master. Hell, the thief had almost been entirely sure that the scholar had bullshitted him when he said it was possible for others to make these pacts—he figured that Freud was just attempting modesty for once. No other person had achieved this besides him, ever. But now there was a child out there, likely not even over thirteen, happily running around with an Onyx Dragon and not a care in the world for what it meant.

Disgust tugged at Phantom's insides.

Freud had been smug, but he had also been a professional. He knew what he was doing. He was friends with Afrien but he was also almost like a soul bound business partner. How could a child possibly comprehend both sides of a bond, much less the responsibility of what it meant to be a Dragon Master? What in the world had possessed Aran and Mercedes to take this child under their wing instead of tossing his out where he belonged? Well, Phantom already knew Mercedes' reason. It was one he…followed suit in, but would not kow tow to.

"Evan, he…he's a special child, I think." Athena said, tone distant as she looked out the window across the wide meadow outside. In the distance, the ocean could be seen. "I…I admit I ignored him for many years. At the time he was just a child who was growing up around here—I couldn't possibly predict what he would become. But…I do know that he's a hardworking and noble kid. Anna and Gustav made sure to raise him that way."

"All the nobility in the world doesn't make up for childishness and ignorance." Phantom snapped, standing up with a start. Athena looked at him with confused eyes. "You're kidding me. You think some child is just going to be able to come in and get the respect of the other heroes so quickly? I doubt it very much."

"And here I was sure that you weren't going to get involved with the heroes again." Athena said. Her voice held challenge. "That's why you didn't talk to any of us when you fought Hilla, isn't it? If you are going to ignore the rest of the heroes and go out on your own…then I am afraid you have no room to judge Evan's place among them."

"I have room to judge him on the basis that I knew Freud, and I know about how his profession and research affected it. That child knows nothing of it." Phantom growled.

"And if Freud were here, he would be joining up with the heroes already!" Athena shouted. "HE would be happy that he had a successor to carry on that delicate work he constructed! Why exactly can't YOU be happy?!"

"Because he has no place trying to replace Freud!"

"YOU have no place to say that he can't!"

"FINE! Let this kid RUN AROUND causing as much trouble as he wants." Phantom snapped. "I won't be blamed when he screws up repeatedly."

"Phantom…" Athena said tiredly, slouching backwards. "Why can't you just give the boy a chance? Is that so hard?"

Phantom didn't answer. He simply turned to leave.

"He looks so much like Freud…a striking resemblance." Phantom paused at her words.

"Your point? Looking like Freud doesn't MAKE him Freud."

"I know." She sighed. "I just…it just came to mind all of the sudden."

"I'm leaving, Athena." Phantom closed his eyes.

"Where are you going, though?"

"…You know where I'm going."

"Phantom. You leave that boy alone." Athena straightened up. Phantom didn't reply. "Do you hear me, Phantom? You had better leave that poor child be. He's suffered enough trouble. He doesn't need you on his back too. Just leave Evan alone. He can't help that he was chosen to fill Freud's shoes."

"I'll be the judge of that."

And the master thief was gone. Athena slumped back in her chair. This was going to get ugly, no doubt about it. Phantom tended to be a very charming, outward person but when he felt wronged or upset…he could be very dangerous and very sharp tongued. Athena knew that Evan would not be able to handle Phantom's more nasty side. She wondered if she should go warn the heroes. Phantom would go out of his way to reach his goal and Athena knew she simply wasn't shrewd enough to match the man's wits and talents. Whether she liked it or not, this was going to fully play out. She only could hope that Evan would be able to handle the ordeal.

Phantom himself was churning with angry thoughts. Athena was backing this child? Surely it was because he was a Henesys brat. She had gone soft onto the whole town. If the brat had originated from elsewhere, and she didn't know his parents and hadn't seen him grow, the master thief figured she wouldn't be this defensive. There was no way it was otherwise. Though a nagging thought in the back of his head told him that Athena was not the type of woman to make such brash assumptions and judgments about people…the thought went ignored.

_Where are they?_

The unofficial knighting ceremony was yesterday. They would still be on Ereve, wouldn't they? There, or at the Crossway. I can't imagine Aran allowing them to dawdle on Ereve…

_Crossway it is._

Sure enough, he saw traces of them in Sleepywood. More accurately, he listened to some raving local going on about the heroes and how he had seen a goddamn extinct species of dragon. The man had eventually told him that the warrior, the elf, and the brat had housed themselves in Sleepywood Inn for the night. Phantom looked out the tree stump exit; it had to be at least ten at night. A child like Evan would be in bed already. The thief narrowed his eyes slightly.

_Well then, I guess we get a more private talk, now don't we? _

Swiftly he climbed up by the window and laid flat against the wooden shutter. Phantom pressed his face against it to try and hear if anyone was inside. There wasn't a single peep. If there was anyone in there, they were already asleep. The master thief smiled briefly. A wake up call would be fine too. It would be shocking for the boy to be awoken by a complete stranger in the middle of the night, but Phantom had dealt with uglier situations.

Slowly, he slipped into the dark room. Almost immediately, a bright light clicked on, shining right in his eyes. The thief stumbled backwards against a heavy bookcase, balancing himself on the shelves. Sitting across the room in a plush chair was an elfin woman…the elfin queen, Mercedes. She held a flashlight in her right hand and propped her face up with her free fist. And she looks very, very annoyed.

"Evening, Phantom. Nice of you to drop by this fine night." She said. Her voice was thick with menace—something Phantom was not accustomed to in her voice. She had always been very, VERY friendly to him (sometimes uncomfortably so). Still he retained a smile. "Don't give me that smarmy look, Phantom. I know why you're here. We both do. Athena rang us up."

"Oh, so Aran's in on this too?" Phantom said.

"Yes. She's waiting outside—if I call her in, she'll be glad to help." Mercedes

snapped. "Who do you think you are? You have avoided us, almost maliciously so, only showing up when the Cygnus Knights needed your help and when you were sure we were not around. And so suddenly you think you have some right to dictate what we do? You think you have some right to pass judgment on EVAN?"

"Oh, so you're hiding the little one behind your backs? How precious. Mercedes, I thought better of you." Phantom replied, striding over to her chair. She didn't as much as twitch. "I would have thought you'd be more expectant of Freud's heir."

"I had very high expectations. The child fills them."

"Oh? Every single one? He's done nothing wrong, made no mistakes that were caused by ignorance and age?" Phantom jeered. She froze and he chuckled. Phantom was not going to let this one go. Mercedes was babying the boy, it was obvious. He couldn't imagine why Aran was apparently backing her up, though. "I see. He's made mistakes, has he not? Bad ones. Huge ones."

"YOU'VE made mistakes too, you know." Mercedes hissed. Phantom did not dignify that with an answer.

"Where is he, Mercedes."

She laughed derisively. "He's not here. Once Athena told us what was going on, we sent him to Ereve. He doesn't KNOW what you're up to, of course…we sent him there for a special 'extra' ceremony given by Empress Cygnus herself. Her highness of Maple is going to officially declare Evan the one and only true successor and a full out dragon master. And there isn't anything you can do about it."

"Cygnus agreed to this?"

"It was her idea." Mercedes said, rising to her feet and looking out the window mournfully. "Will you defy your Empress, Phantom? Do you really hold so much spite towards a child you've never met?...Phantom?"

He was gone.

The man had disappeared to his ship, sitting on the deck to think. The Empress Cygnus was going to fully declare this child as Freud's successor? Surely Mercedes had been joking. Then again, children sympathized with other children and Cygnus was even younger than Evan was. Sometimes Phantom admitted that he doubted some of the choices that she made—he briefly had questioned the girl's aptitude. Ten seemed far too young to ascend the throne. But that had been Shinsoo's choice…

It was not of any matter.

Phantom knew what he was going to do. He was going to visit Ereve to watch the ceremony. He did not know what it would entail but this would be a chance to find out what was really going on—what this child truly encompassed. This would be his chance to fully judge the child's aptitude. In fact, Phantom decided, he would be the one testing Evan's abilities.

It was the best possible way, he assured himself.

So he sat on a guardrail patiently, watching the Empress and her knights filter out from the inner gardens. She herself was flanked by two knights. Phantom recognized them slightly. One was a blonde addressed as Mihile and the other was a small redhead girl addressed as Oz. Phantom didn't particularly know much about the knights but he knew that at the very least, they were capable. And that was all that really mattered when it came to defending her highness.

The Empress came to halt on a circular stage. It was ringed by an ornate metal fence that barely reached the ten year old's waist. The curves of the metal were decorated with bright red and purple flowers, occasionally dotted with shades of yellow and blue. The entire stage was covered in a light blue fabric that glittered in the sunlight. It was all very flamboyant and showy. Clearly the Empress wanted to make this a flashy and memorable event. Phantom scoffed. Such attention for a child who apparently made huge mistakes…

The crowd parted as Athena came into view. She looked very, very nervous as she glanced around. No doubt she was trying to catch sight of Phantom. She hadn't wanted the man to know about this ceremony but Mercedes just had to go and spill it. Now they had to watch out for Phantom DURING the coronation too. The thief watched her carefully; she could try as hard as she liked, but the elf would not find him. So he instead focused on the slight figure next to her.

It was a boy, obviously still in his tween years. Without any second thoughts, Phantom could peg that this was the kid he was looking for. His hair was light brown and messy, and he wore a light red polo jacket. The middle was covered by a white bib tied at the neck with a blue gem. Across the surface was a light blue symbol identifying his profession—his apparent destiny. He looked clumsy and nervous and was being led through the crowd by the hand, almost as if he'd rather be anywhere besides here. Phantom figured the feeling would be intensified in a few minutes.

This was Evan.

The boy joined the Empress on the stage. The little blonde girl squeezed his arm comfortingly, speaking too low for Phantom to hear from the great distance. But Evan nodded and straightened up, looking down at the little Empress with determined eyes. She giggled and guided him onto the highest circle of the stage, still flanked by Mihile and Oz.

"Good evening, my people." She said, tone soft and breathy as per usual. The crowd went silent immediately. "I am dreadfully sorry to call this event on such short notice and am thrilled to see that so many of you could attend despite that inconvenience. Today we're here for a special ceremony. I'm sure you all remember last week's unofficial knighting of the three heroes. By request of my fellow royal, her highness Mercedes, I will be performing another ceremony today. Today I shall be fully and legally recognizing this child, Evan, as the true successor to the practice of Dragon Masters."

"Hello." Evan said meekly. Phantom snorted. "M'name is Evan, I'm from Henesys. I came here with my dragon…" he gestured to the juvenile, still dark blue dragon hovering next to him. "…to accept the Empress's blessing…"

"Interesting that you think yourself so worthy of it." Both Cygnus and Evan jumped at the sound of the projected voice. Phantom did not mean to scare the little Empress but Evan's shocked expression was worth it. "You waltz in so quickly assuming that you'll be fully accepted by everyone. Not a challenge in the world, hmm?"

"W-what?!'

"Children shouldn't be playing in studies made by adults."

With a blinding flash of purple and blue cards, Phantom came to rest on the stage. The little Empress gasped softly but Evan just seemed completely bemused. The blonde man smirked, holding out a hand to Cygnus. "I think it is best you get off stage, little Empress. This may get very ugly."

"Phantom, you really shouldn't do this." She said quietly.

"I have my obligations. I couldn't allow this child to just do as he pleased with Freud's craft. It would be a crass act—I'd certainly be pegged as a very bad friend." Phantom replied smoothly, guiding the girl down onto the lower stage. Mihile and Oz followed silently, glaring reproachfully at the thief. They were not allowed to hurt Phantom, not after he had done such a favor to the knights. Letting the girl's hand go, he turned back to Evan with a harsh smile. "So you're the boy who fancies himself to be Freud's successor, are you?"

"I…well, I guess that's one way to put it." Evan replied. "Who are you?"

"Heh. So they really haven't told you anything. I figured it would be one or the other, really. Those people were never really ones to settle for a healthy middle ground." Phantom chuckled. "I am Phantom, master thief. I suppose I am also to be called an ex-hero, seeing as I'm not particularly in their favor at the moment. And I am here to test you, BOY. You seem to have gotten a bit of a swelled head thinking you have some right to be formally and legally recognized as the one and only successor."

"Well, to be honest, I didn't really want to be here—"

"Boy, you either prove yourself…or you step down." Phantom threatened. Evan froze, gripping Mir's snout tightly. "Do you deny that you should be tested? Are you AFRAID, boy?"

"I'm not afraid of you." Evan said steadily.

"Then you clearly have no idea what you are dealing with." Phantom said smoothly, disappearing into thin air. His voice continued to ring out as cards fell from the sky; these specially crafted tarot scratched at Evan's skin and drew blood. The child winced. "Suffering from what can barely be called a flesh wound? My, this is going to be over sooner than I thought it would be. Still, I suppose that's what happens when dealing with children…they always think they can, even when they most assuredly can NOT."

Evan's eyes narrowed. With a flick of his wand, all of the cards surrounding him burst into flames, shriveling to ash that piled around his feet in a circle. "I may be a child. And you may not like that I'm both a child and a Dragon Master at the same time. But you know what? I don't know who you are and I don't care. I have a pact with Mir—we SHARE A SINGLE SOUL. What he feels, I feel, and having a shared soul with him is something I wouldn't trade for ANYTHING. I would rather get killed than to give up my bond with Mir. So if you want me to step down for my position, you're going to have to make sure I'm dead and cold first."

"I would die before I ever broke my pact with Afrien. We share a soul—we are one. Without each other, we are nothing. I refuse to exist without him. I would be an empty, sordid existence and I would fight to the death to keep this bond intact."

"So come on! You wanna fight me?! Okay, fine! Fight me!" Evan was yelling now. "I won't give you Mir. I won't quit this title."

"You swear on everything that you would die for the pact?"

"Everything?! I'll cut off my own hand right here and now if that'll prove my dedication to this pact." Evan threatened. For a minute, the entire auditorium was hushed in tense silence. Then, accompanied by the soft sound of wind, Phantom reappeared in a burst of purple cards. He wore a serious expression on his face as he looked upon the child in front of him. The boy stepped forward bravely to glare upward at the man who had mocked his pact.

"Athena was right, really." Phantom said, touching the brunette head lightly. Evan stiffened at the touch, fearful of violence, but slackened slightly after realizing that this time around Phantom meant no harm upon him. "You do look just like Freud…of course, you have lighter eyes and more brown hair…but all that matters is that you share the kind of soul that it takes to become a Dragon Master, isn't it?"

"I guess so. I…never met Freud, so I can't really say how much we look alike…or if we're similar at all." Evan said bashfully. Phantom laughed.

"It is appearance only, trust me."

"Oh…well, I guess it's better to be my own person. Or somethin' like that. Am I right?" Phantom stopped to stare at the kid for a moment—he had a very strange twangy accent that the thief was not entirely familiar with. It didn't seem to surface constantly but it was there. The man shook it off and smiled lightly. He held his hand out, with single card lodged between his middle and pointer finger. Evan jumped slightly at the sight of the sharp cards. But with a burst of blinding light, accompanied by the outline of a pair of shimmering purple dragon wings, the card disappeared.

In his hands, Phantom now held a headband ringed with gold. Intricate symbols curved across the soft, purple fabric coating the outside of the band. At the side of the head were two circles, rimmed with gold. The inner reaches had a four pronged mark on it, with a small opening in the middle. Red bat wings emerged from these circles, the joints made of a similar golden color. Evan curiously moved forward to touch it but his hand was smacked away quickly. Instead, Phantom slid the headpiece onto the boy's brown hair.

"Call it a long due gift from Freud himself. It's the headband he designed and wore to be indicative of his profession. You have the same drive as him. So I think you probably deserve to wear this." Phantom explained. A wide grin spread Evan's features. The child was elated.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you!" He cried, briefly hugging the blonde man around the waist then bounding off to show his headpiece to Athena and Cygnus. The Empress clapped excitedly but the elfin woman just stared at the master their curiously. With a wave of her hand, she beckoned him to join her offstage. Phantom smirked, taking out another card.

"For now, child, I bid you adieu though I wish you luck in your pursuit to follow Freud's footsteps. Your words rang true, and I hope for your actions to do the same." Phantom declared. Then he disappeared off the stage. Evan patted the headband on his head with a smile.

"Neat."

Offstage, Athena waited impatiently. When the thief manifested himself across from her, languidly lounging against the back of the stage, she snarled. "What are you PLAYING at, Phantom? You say you're going to kill the poor boy and then you give him GIFTS instead? Is that thing rigged with a bomb or something?!"

"No, you have no need to fret. That's Freud's original headband." Phantom said flippantly. "The child…spoke. He did a good job. The kid is a little rough around the edges but he's got the right spirit."

"That's what we've been TRYING to tell you!"

"You said it but you proved absolutely nothing." Phantom snapped. Athena stiffened. "The boy spoke for himself…but he still has a lot to prove anyways. Remind him I'll be watching his progress carefully. He may have said the right words but I'm still not going to let my dear friend's hard work go to waste. Do you understand me, Athena Pierce?"

"…I…I do." She nodded stiffly. "I-if you must…but how will you keep an eye on the boy if you are so stubbornly distancing yourself from the other heroes?"

"…We'll see how the whole 'distancing myself' issue plays out." Phantom snickered. Athena raised an eyebrow. "Let's just say I may have motivations to be joining up with you all again. After all, I have my word to keep…"

Athena was quite for a moment, then smiled warmly.

"We will all await your return."


End file.
